LA Chargers News: Bolts made the right move in trading Desmond King

The biggest LA Chargers news of the season dropped on Monday morning as Desmond King has been traded to the Tennessee Titans.

One day after being a healthy inactive in Week 8 against the Denver Broncos, the LA Chargers have traded former All-Pro defensive back, Desmond King. King was traded to the Tennesee Titans for a sixth-round pick, per Ian Rapoport.

King is a huge fan-favorite and the initial reaction from the fans did not seem to be a positive one. Not only are the Chargers seemingly losing an important player, but they did not get that much in return for him.

While it is easy to fall into that line of thinking, when you really zoom out and look at the situation from a wider perspective it becomes clear that the Chargers absolutely made the right move in trading King and the compensation for King was fair.

Why the LA Chargers were right in trading Desmond King:

Desmond King is a free agent after this season. He has already publically complained on Twitter about his playing time and him not playing in Week 8 should have been a warning sign. This is not someone who was going to stick around in LA past this season.

So, instead of having him play nine games and leave, the Chargers get something for him. Truth be told, King is not someone who moves the needle for this defense anyway. Once Chris Harris returns from injury the team does not even really have a spot for King in the starting defense.

Should a team trade someone who makes them marginally better for half a season for future capital? Yes. Even if that capital is not that great.

A sixth-round pick for King was absolutely predictable. Heck, I predicted a fifth-round pick two weeks ago if the Chargers traded King and even I am not surprised by it being a sixth-round pick.

The reality of the situation is that the Chargers are trading a guy who is only under contract for half a season, can only really be used at slot corner (he cannot play on the outside) and has not been fantastic the last season and a half.

They are trading someone with a limited skillset and the Titans are trading for him in the hopes that he will return to All-Pro form. However, based on how he has played the last two seasons, it is looking more and more like that All-Pro season was the anomaly.

There were 34 players last season that played at least 200 snaps in the slot. Of those 34 players, King allowed the fifth-highest passer rating when targeted, allowing 36 receptions in 41 targets. He had zero interceptions in the slot.  He was not good. 

While he is on the wrong side of 30, someone like Carlos Dunlap only warranted a depth offensive lineman and a seventh-round pick in a trade. He had nine sacks last season. If Dunlap was only worth that then how could we have expected King to be worth a mid-round pick?

The fact of the matter is that King does not move the needle and is really replaceable once Harris returns from injury. The LA Chargers did the right thing in trading him and hopefully, for King’s sake, he can find new life in Tennessee.